CIBSE (The Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers) is calling for submissions for its 2016 Technical Symposium.

The focus of the Symposium is on 'Integration for whole life building performance'. Building on the collaborative theme of new president Nick Mead’s term in office, CIBSE is inviting building services professionals to submit abstracts that show how inter-disciplinary working can bring benefits to sectors within building services, including building related energy, comfort, IEQ, acoustic and electrical systems. The event will then see the chosen applicants present their ideas to an auditorium of their peers, as well as take part in debates and poster sessions with other professionals at the cutting edge of their fields.

CIBSE president, Nick Mead, said: “For five years the CIBSE Technical Symposium been the touchstone event in our calendar for sparking debate and discussing the latest new ideas that will be big news a few years down the line. Edinburgh and its universities have a wealth of engineering heritage behind them, and will make for a fantastic setting for this year’s event.”

He continued: “The topic of this year’s Symposium is also one that is close to my heart, as it mirrors the theme I have set out for my presidency. It is clear that we need to end siloed thinking and work together to plan in the long term, and events like this one encourage us to think big and embrace new ways of getting this done.” CIBSE is inviting any presentation ideas to be proposed, from PowerPoint slides to peer reviewed papers. The Symposium is open to practitioners from all walks of life; including designers, contractors, consultants and engineers.

This new call for papers comes three months after the 2015 Symposium was held at University College London, featuring more than 50 presentations over two days. It focussed on the topic ‘Simple buildings, better buildings?’, and featured talks on BIM, building performance and energy labelling.

The 2016 Technical Symposium is being hosted by Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, from the 14th to the 15th of April, and includes an informal reception for attendees at Edinburgh Castle. Abstracts should be submitted to symposium@cibse.org no later than 14th September 2015, and applicants should see the CIBSE website for details.